The Final Goodbye and Burial
by maggalina
Summary: Harry goes back to the place where he dropped the Resurrection Stone for one last conversation with Sirius.


Harry sat at the edge of the forbidden forest, he ignored the death and destruction around him and just stared into the path he had taken before he chose not to die. The resurrection stone was around there somewhere, Dumbledore had told him it was best it had fallen, but was it?

He knew the story of the three brothers, he knew they weren't real and he knew he couldn't have them for long but why couldn't he bring Lupin and Tonks around once a year for Teddy's birthday just so they could see him? Why couldn't he bring Moody back for a moment to show him they had one? Why couldn't be bring Colin back long enough to say how very sorry he was?

He knew he shouldn't bring Lily and James back again only because he wouldn't be able to give them back but Sirius. He had so much to tell Sirius.

He had never in the two years he had known him told Sirius that he had loved him. He was sure Sirius knew just as he was sure that Sirius had loved him but he had never told him.

Then he realized, he had to bring Sirius back. It wasn't just the 'I love you' that went unsaid. Sirius died thinking Regulus was a Death Eater. He had to know the truth. The two brothers had to be reunited more than they already were in death.

Harry ran into the forest certain he was on the path he had taken when Voldemort had called him like a pig to slaughter. When he found the clearing where Narcissa had kept the secret of his undying breath he ran he fingers through the grass still imprinted with the mark of his fallen body. His vision was blurring with tears remembering the evil that had stood right before where he was and the death it rained down when suddenly his fingers hit something hard.

He blinked a few times and saw a giant crack in the middle. It was the Resurrection Stone! He spun it in his hand three times and there was Sirius standing right before him. He was there. He wasn't real but he looked like a patronus and he had the same happiness radiating from him and Harry instantly felt safe.

Sirius walked over and bent down, kneeling next to Harry. "I shouldn't be here, Harry. You know better."

"But I needed you. How can I keep fighting to live without you every day when the fighting is over? I wish I hadn't come back. I was dead I should have stayed dead. I don't fear death so why did I avoid it?"

Sirius sat down next to Harry and pulled him close, "You avoided death not because you were afraid for it but because you were afraid for what would happen to everyone else. Gold is cheap compared to your heart, and I don't just mean on the muggle black market. You have such a capacity to love Harry, you don't need to die to stop fighting. You can call me because I am already around you. I am there supporting you all the time."

Harry shoved his face into the silvery folds of Sirius' cloak. He muttered into Sirius' chest but Sirius just guided him to leaning against his shoulder.

"Can you repeat that again?" Sirius said letting out a slight puff of air and with the slightest of grins.

"I love you. I never told you. But I love you."

"Of course you did. Every time you wrote to me, or missed me, or brought me food. Every day at Grimmauld Place. Every time you looked out for me. I love you is more than just words," he paused looking at Harry, "I do love you though. Every ounce of my being loves you with all I have."

Harry put his head back into the slips of the cloak and Sirius slipped his arms around him and held him close. Harry didn't know how long they stayed like this but he didn't move from this position until he heard a crack in the forest.

He bolted off the ground pointing his wand where he heard the noise come from. A flash of red hair made him lower his guard but only slightly. Ginny came out of the woods with twigs stuck in her hair and a smile on her face.

"I thought you would be here. You can put your wand down."

"How did you comfort me after what we overheard at St. Mungo's when your dad was bit by Nagini?"

"You were worried you were possessed by Voldemort and I asked you if you had any big black spots in time you couldn't remember, and you didn't. That's when you realized you had forgotten that some of us have actually been possessed. You did end up possessed though later that year so I guess you can join the club."

"Ginny," he moved closer to her.

"Wait, do I not get to ask a question. How long did you like me before you finally asked me out?"

"Forever I think. I kept having all these internal battles with myself because you were Ron's sister but when I was on the Felix Felicis I accidently pushed you through the portrait hole and you blamed Dean so it….wait. You wouldn't know the answer to that, how did any of that prove it was me."

"I know. But I still know it is you."

She enveloped him in a hug and he sunk into the comfort before remembering what he had been doing before Ginny got there.

"Sirius!"

"Harry, are you okay? Why did you just call for Sirius?"

"Because he was here, I spun the Resurrection Stone and he was here and I still have to tell him about Regulus."

Sirius was suddenly right beside him, "I know Regulus betrayed Voldemort, you can let me go now, pal. You have everyone you need. I love you."

"I love you too," Harry whispered as Sirius faded away.

"You found the stone? Harry, you know Dumbledore told you to leave it alone."

"I know, but I had to tell him I loved him. I had to say goodbye."

"Give me the stone, Harry. It is time to get rid of it for good. We can drop it in the lake."

Harry looked like he was about to argue before he sighed and realized Ginny was right. He passed the stone to her and started walking out of the forest.

Ginny paused for a moment tempted to turn the ring over and say a final goodbye to Fred but when she looked down it was just a stone with a crack in it. It wasn't the Resurrection Stone. She wasn't about to take away Harry's goodbye though and she kept it sealed in her hand until they threw the useless pebble into the lake. Giving a final farewell and burial to all those they had loved and lost.


End file.
